Top ten things to do for healthy and productive transition ... · Top ten things to do for healthy and productive transition cows Thomas R. Overton, Ph.D. Professor of Dairy Management

Top ten things to do for healthy and productive transition cows

Thomas R. Overton, Ph.D.Professor of Dairy Management

Director, PRO-DAIRYAssociate Director, Cornell Cooperative Extension

Cornell University

Transition period goals

• High milk production

• Maintain/minimize loss of BCS

• Low incidence of metabolic disorders

• Minimize loss of immunocompetence

• Control/decrease days to first ovulation and maintain/enhance fertility

• Low stillborn rate and healthy calves

• Make $$

• Question – can a dairy farm meet all of these goals?

Shift in mindset from the transition cow as a

disease opportunity to the transition cow as a

production and reproduction opportunity!!!

The good news…..

There’s more than one way to get the job done……

Transition cow success can come in many shapes and sizes….

• Large freestall herds with the ability to group & feed cows in a variety of ways

• Small freestall herds with limited options on grouping & feeding

• Tiestall herds that segregate dry cows

• Tiestall herds that have dry cows in their assigned stalls in the barn, with limited ability to feed them a specific dry or pre-fresh diet

• Grazing herds that freshen year round (including on pasture)

• Grazing herds that freshen most everything in the spring for that flush of spring grass


• Manage macromineral nutrition/DCAD of dry cows, especially in the last 2 to 3 weeks before calving

Mineral status

Plasma minerals concentration

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

-18 -11 -4 0.3 0.6 1 2 3 4 5 9 15

Days relative to calving

Pla

sma

co

ncen

tra

tio

n (

mg

/dL

)

Control (Ca)

Low DCAD (Ca)

Control (P)

Low DCAD (P)

Control (Mg)

Low DCAD (Mg)

Ramos Nieves et al., 2009

Hypocalcemia incidence analysis

Clinical hypocalcemia

(< 5 mg/dL)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

8h 16h 1d 2d 3d 4d

Time relative to calving

% o

f c

ow

s o

n t

rea

tme

nt Control

Low DCAD

Subclinical hypocalcemia

(5 - 8 mg/dL)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

8h 16h 1d 2d 3d 4d

Time relative to calving

Control

Low DCAD

Ramos-Nieves et al., 2009

Managing macrominerals in close-up dry rations for good postcalving Ca and P status

• Our enemies…

– Potassium (legumes, heavily manured grasses)

– Sodium (but a little salt is good)

• Our friends…

– Chloride and sulfur (anionic supplements)

– Magnesium

– Calcium

• DCAD = (Na+ + K+) - (Cl- + S-2)

Major strategies for application of DCAD for close-up dry cows

• Focus on feeding low K (and Na) forages and feeds to close-up dry cows

• Calculated DCAD ~ +10 mEq/100 g of DM

• Urine pH ~ 8.3 to 8.5

• Feeding low K forages along with partial use of anionic supplement in close-up ration or one-group dry cow ration

• Calculated DCAD ~ 0 mEq/100 g of DM

• Urine pH ~ 7.5

• Feeding low K forages along with full use of anionic supplement in close-up ration or one-group dry cow ration

• Calculated DCAD ~ -10 to -15 mEq/100 g of DM

• Urine pH ~ 6.0 to 7.0 – need to monitor weekly and adjust DCAD supplementation if <

6.0

• Need to also supplement Mg (dietary target 0.40 to 0.45%) during close-up

• Recommend supplementing Ca (0.9 to 1.0% if low K only; 1.4 to 1.5% if full anionic diet)



• Control energy intake in both far-off and close-up cows – not too little, not too much

• Make sure supplying enough metabolizable protein before calving

– Emphasis on “bypass” protein sources

Overall goals for energy and metabolizable protein intake of both far-off and close-up cows

• Far off cows (dry off until ~ 3 weeks precalving)– ~ 15 - 17 Mcal of NEL per day (0.59 to 0.63 Mcal/lb NEL)– 110 to 120% of ME requirements (0.90 to 0.95 Mcal/lb)– ~ 1000 g/d of metabolizable protein

• Close-up cows (last 3 weeks before calving)– ~16 - 18 Mcal of NEL per day (0.64 to 0.66 Mcal/lb NEL)– 110 to 120% of ME requirements (~ 1.0 Mcal/lb)– ~ 1100 to 1200 g/d of metabolizable protein

• Maybe too low??

Energy for Far-Off Dry Cows

• Ration considerations

NEL 0.59 to 0.63 Mcal/lb for maintenance BCS and controlled energy intake

Typical lactating cow forages

Corn silage ~ 0.70 to 0.75 Mcal/lb NELHaylage ~ 0.60 to 0.65 Mcal/lb NEL

Usually will need to bring in forage with lower energy content than lactating cow forages

Dr. Patrick French regression analysis

• 18 published transition cow studies (2002 to present)

• Prepartum MP intake, mMet intake, and mLysintake positively associated with postpartum milk protein yield (when all three in model r2 = 0.56)

• Suggest optimum at ~ 1,300 g/d MP, 30 g/d mMet, and 90 g/d mLys

Moderate energy prefresh diet composition (as formulated)

General goals for diet formulation for closeup cows

Low K only Full anionic

• NEL, Mcal/lb ~0.64 to 0.66

• NEL, Mcal/kg ~1.40 to 1.45

• Metabolizable protein, g/d 1100 to 1200• NFC, % 28 to 32• Starch, % 16 to 19• Dietary Ca, g/d 100 180 to 200• Dietary Ca, % 0.90 ~ 1.5• Dietary P, % 0.30 to 0.35• Mg, % 0.40 to 0.42• Cl, % 0.3 0.8 to 1.2• K, % < 1.3 < 1.3• Na, % 0.10 to 0.15• S, % 0.20 0.3 to 0.4• Added Se, ppm 0.3• Vitamin A (IU/d) 100000 100000• Vitamin D (IU/d) 30000 30000• Vitamin E (IU/d) 1800 1800Prefer use of more bioavailable trace elements





• Get the feeding management right, every day

Keys to feeding management of dry cow TMR

• Minimize sorting

– Particle size of straw/hay

• Longest particles < 1.5 in (4 cm)

– Moisture content of TMR

• Target 46 to 48 DM % -- add water if necessary

You HAVE to chop the %(*(#*@&# straw/hay

3.5 lbs straw in 26 lb DM package

6 lbs straw in 27 lb DM package

Screen Lactating cow TMR

Dry cow or heifer TMR

Corn silage Hay crop silage

Straw/dryhay for TMR

Top (> 0.75” sieve)

6 to 10% 10 to 20% 5 to 10% 10 to 20% 33%

Middle(0.31 to 0.75 in sieve)

45 to 55% 50 to 60% 45 to 65% 45 to 75% 33%

Bottom(< 0.31 in sieve)

< 50% < 40% 30 to 40% 20 to 30% 33%

Particle size recommendations using Penn State Particle Separator

Adapted from Penn State guidelines by T. Overton 9/2013

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=QVkDgMGCmDIaaM&tbnid=M71Tc3fuPUQrZM:&ved=0CAgQjRwwAA&url=http://www.enasco.com/product/C15924N&ei=uAdgUu6NE5Dw8ATTzIDwCA&psig=AFQjCNEWq6dbCjowID1Qca2NDCzchlJzNA&ust=1382111544382720

Commercial farm study – prefresh TMR samples from 55 farms (Lawton and Overton, unpublished)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Top Middle Pan

55 Farms

Recommendation






• Clean and comfortable housing and fresh water

• Manage social interactions/hierarchy

– Stocking density, commingling cows/heifers, group changes

https://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/sects/NYSCHAP/

NYSCHAP questionaire – stocking density

https://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/sects/NYSCHAP/

NYSCHAP questionaire – general environment

https://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/sects/NYSCHAP

/

NYSCHAP questionaire – dry cow nutrition

https://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/sects/NYSCHAP

/








• Manage cold stress and heat stress

Cooling during the entire dry period increases subsequent milk production (differences in kg/d above bars)

Tao and Dahl. 2013. J. Dairy Sci 96 :4079–4093

+ 1.2

+ 3.6

+ 2.6

+ 1.9

+ 7.5 + 2.3 + 5.0

+ 5.2

+ 6.3

Heat stress during the prepartumperiod decreases calf birth weight

Heat-

stressed Control

%

reduction Reference

Tao and Dahl. 2013. J. Dairy Sci 96 :4079–4093









• High quality forage and fermentable diets for fresh cows

BMR corn silage during the transition period

3 wk Prefresh

Conventionalcorn silagehybrids

BMRcorn silage

> 3 wks post-fresh

Conventionalcorn silagehybrids

BMRcorn silage

Wks 3.5 – 15

Conv. CS

Diet formulation goal: Keep all parameters the same withthe exception of NDF digestibility.

Diets formulated with CPM Dairy

Stone et al., 2012. J. Dairy Sci. 95 :6665–6676

Days before or after calving

DMI of cows fed BMR or conventional corn silage during the transition period (Stone et al., 2012)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

-25 -15 -5 5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105

Kg

/da

y

BMR

Control

DMI d -14 to -1 14.3 vs. 13.2, P < 0.03DMI d 0 – 21 20.2 vs. 18.2, P < 0.001


3.5% FCM of cows fed BMR or Control corn silage during the transition period

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50

55

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Kg/d

Week of Lactation

BMRCS

CCS

Wk 1 - 3 Wk 4 – 15

Variable CCS BMR

CS

SE P-

value

CCS BMR

CS

SE P-

value

Milk, kg 34.3 37.5 1.0 0.03 45.3 47.3 0.90 0.11

3.5% FCM, kg 38.8 42.9 1.5 0.06 46.7 49.4 1.1 0.09











• Strategically use feed additives/nutritional tools (the next talk)










• Strategically use feed additives/nutritional tools (the next talk)

• Implement cow- and herd-level monitoring programs

Types of monitoring

• Cow-level

– Seeking to make a diagnosis/treatment decision on an individual animal

• Herd-level

– Periodic (e.g., weekly) evaluation of a representative sample of cows in a sampling window of interest

– Using as a barometer of the herd

Potential herd level monitors for transition cow performance and health opportunities

• Most of dairy industry works on averages

• Challenges related to nutrition/non-nutritional factors cause increases in variation in DMI/performance/metabolism

– Almost impossible to detect some of these on farms

• Potential tools for use in monitoring variation in transition cow management and subclinical opportunities

– BHBA (“gold standard” blood ketone)

– NEFA (best marker for negative energy balance)

– Calcium (getting renewed attention)

– Haptoglobin (acute-phase response/systemic inflammation)

– Rumination monitors? – other electronic monitoring?

– Variation in early lactation milk yield / Transition Cow Index (TCI)

– Urine pH – only if feeding anionic supplements, but can be great monitor of feeding management

Histogram of prevalence of subclinical ketosis (SCK) in 1,717 Holstein dairy cows undergoing repeated testing for ketosis from 3 to 16 DIM. A positive test

was defined as a blood BHBA concentration of 1.2 to 2.9 mmol/L

McArt et al., 2012. J. Dairy Sci. 95 :5056–5066

Approach for monitoring energy-related blood analytes in transition cows

• Sample size:– ~ 15 to 20 cows

• Cows to sample– Pre-partum: 14 to 2 days before calving– Post-partum: 3 to 14 DIM

• Sample to take– Serum (red top) or plasma (green top)– Don’t shake, keep cool

• What to do with sample?– BHB: Precision Extra Meter for blood; milk Ketotest in US and Canada– NEFA: Lab

• What to do with results– Interpret % above cut-point– More than 15% above cut-point indicates herd-level problem

Herd-level impacts of elevated NEFA/BHB

Metabolite level Herd

Alarm

Associated with:

PRE-Partum

NEFA > 0.3 mEq/L

15% +3.6% Disease incidence

-1.2% Pregnancy rate

- 529 lbs ME305 milk (both heifers and cows)

POST-Partum

NEFA > 0.6a - 0.7b mEq/L

15% +1.7% Disease incidenceb

- 0.9% Pregnancy ratea

Heifers: -640 lbs, Cows: - 1,272 lbs

BHB > 10a-12b* mg/dL 15%

*20%

+1.8% Disease incidenceb

-0.8% Pregnancy rateb

Heifers: -1,179 lbs*, Cows: - 732 lbsa

*15% of 15 = 2-3 animals Ospina et al., 2010

Prevalence of hyperketonemia - 55 dairy farms – Lawton and Overton, unpublished

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

<15% 15 - 25% 25 - 35% ≥35%

Proportion of cows/herd with BHBA ≥1.2 mmol/L, 3-14 DIM

60

80

100

120

40

Monthly snapshot of herd milk production at test day

Days in milk at test day

Current field study (Overton, Burhans, and Nydam)Funding partners: NY Farm Viability Institute, USDA

Multistate Hatch, Poulin Grain Inc)

• Objectives:– Identify relationships between dry period nutritional strategy, fresh

period nutritional strategy, and postpartum outcomes related to health, milk yield, and reproduction.

– Determine if interactions exist between dry period nutritional strategy, fresh period nutritional strategy, and biomarkers related to the above postpartum outcomes on commercial dairy farms (focus on NEFA, BHBA, and haptoglobin)

– Identify relationships of nonnutritional factors affecting cows during the dry period and early lactation (stocking density, commingling of cows and heifers, pen moves) with postpartum health, milk yield, reproduction, and biomarkers related to these outcomes on commercial dairy farms.

General study approach

• 72 herds total across four nutritional management categories– Controlled energy one-group dry, fresh cows fed high diet

– Controlled energy one-group dry, fresh cows fed fresh diet first

– Step up (two-group) dry, fresh cows fed high diet

– Step up (two-group) dry, fresh cows fed fresh diet first

– High energy one/two group dry, fresh cows fed high diet

– High energy one/two group dry, fresh cows fed fresh diet first

• Follow cohort of cows (24 per herd) through dry period and early lactation

– BCS, lameness, calving score, blood biomarkers, metabolic disorders, milk production, reproduction

– TMR analyses and particle size as cows move through different groups/stages

Summary and conclusions

• Transition success is attainable!!!!!– Can get there in a number of ways

• Sound integration of prepartum diet formulation and feeding management are critical for success– Macrominerals/DCAD in close-up rations– Controlling energy intake in rations for far off and close up

cows– Consistency/managing particle length of prepartum diets

• Managing nonnutritional factors is critical for success– Stocking density, group changes, cow/heifer interactions,

heat stress

• Monitoring tools related to energy metabolism that are associated with clear downstream outcomes (i.e., BHBA and NEFA) can help identify opportunities for improved transition cow management

Thanks!!

[email protected]

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Top ten things to do for healthy and productive transition ... · Top ten things to do for healthy and productive transition cows Thomas R. Overton, Ph.D. Professor of Dairy Management